Donald Luidens, professor of sociology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, has written a thoughtful piece about his own denomination, The Reformed Church in America. From his perspective it is crumbling before our eyes.
I'm not Dutch, nor am I from west Michigan, so I will stay out of this one. But this article surely gives valuable insight into the demise of individual churches and denominations. For us the in the PCA we would do well to study other denominations that are in decline. We need to learn why they slipped and why they couldn't regain their footing. We need to study their leadership structures, their decision-making processes, their poor theological choices, and the unique niche they occupy (occupied) in the American church landscape. We need to learn these things because we are not immune. Recent decisions (or lack thereof) on the 'deaconess' issue is a case in point. To allow extra-constitutional practices to supplant our constitution spells doom.
You can read the article here: RCA - Perspectives: Essay: Mournful Sounds of Implosion Please note that there is a link to a rebuttal of this paper.
HT Heidelblog.
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